Resources

Cook Books I Use

This is an absolutely fabulous book, even if you are not a vegetarian! Each page is a new recipe and every recipe has pictures of the finished product
as well as the preparation process. Plus it has the break down of the nutritional information! Best.Cookbook.Ever!

This was one of the first cookbooks that I ever bought. I got it in a set with the Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book and The Pilsbury Cookbook, but I find that I use the Fannie Farmer far
more often than the other two. In fact, I have used it so much that it is now in two halves with some loose pages shoved in the middle. One of the things that I really like about this book is
that it has conversion tables, plus it covers cooking and baking basics. And there is a canning section!!

This book is the ultimate bread book. It explains not only how to bake bread using the bread machine, it explains the whole process of making various breads.
It covers various ingredients and the effect that they have on the bread. It even explains how to create your own starters! There are beautiful pictures with step-by-step visuals on how to make each bread.
Plus it has a recipe for just about every variety of bread that you may ever want to bake; and they have all been fabulous recipes!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Tomato Lentil Soup/Casserole

I needed to make a quick meal and had been remembering a wonderful minestrone that I had whipped up once, so I decided to try that again. Except I couldn't exactly remember how I had made it, so what I ended up with was different, but equally as wonderful.

I call this a "soup/casserole" since it could really be either. When it was first done cooking it still had a soup consistency, but as it sat, the noodles soaked up most of the remaining liquid and it became a casserole. Either way was very good.

2 cups reconstituted lentils (about 1 cup dried - I used two lentils: French and brown)

2 stalks celery, diced

3 medium carrots, sliced (you can leave the skins on)

2 handfuls of uncooked pasta (your choice - used egg noodles)

The first thing that you want to do is start the lentils reconstituting by placing them in a bowl and pouring near boiling water over them.

Heat the olive oil on medium in a soup pan while you mince the garlic and chop/dice the onion. Saute the garlic and onions in the olive oil while you dice the celery. Saute the celery while you slice the carrots. If you like your carrots firm, hold off placing them in the pot until later.

Dump the tomato sauce into the pot. Add a pint of water and mix in the Italian seasoning. Rinse the lentils and add to pot. Simmer for ten minutes. Add the pasta (and carrots if you didn't do that earlier) and simmer until the pasta is cooked. You may need to add extra water during this process (but make sure that the liquids remain bubbly hot or the pasta will cook pasty - Yuck!)

Salt to taste.

This was quick and easy to make. I really liked this and so did my husband (who isn't a big shelled bean fan). It will make great leftovers for lunch tomorrow as well :)